the daydream fund challenge thread

lostinrates

Rummer wrote: »

It has died again for the fourth winter in a row

Its bad enough down here with no heating...just the idea of e lack of it sometimes makes one colder.

Itismehonest

Rummer wrote: »

It has died again for the fourth winter in a row

Oh no, What type of heating is it? Do you have an alternative?

LIR
I've been meaning to ask you but kept forgetting.
Remember on another thread you said about there had always been girls lunches/dinner parties where you lived? Are you talking about farmers wives?

lostinrates

Itismehonest wrote: »

Oh no, What type of heating is it? Do you have an alternative?

LIR
I've been meaning to ask you but kept forgetting.
Remember on another thread you said about there had always been girls lunches/dinner parties where you lived? Are you talking about farmers wives?

Grr..lost a reply. So annoying.

In brief, yes farmers wives...and daughters, but also other people who lived about too. E.g as a student a few of us kived off ag. Coolege, sometimes quite far a way. Students and lecturers mixed socially, and the lecturers introduced us to villagers and farmers etc...just people. We had a regular tuesday night meet up there. I also was really good friends with some farmers adult kids who had school friends who stayed on in the area, so we used to do stuff for lunch/supper.

My village before this one was posher. Some farmers wives, mothers and daughters, weekender wives, london gone native, native stayed native....then schoolgate mothers meet and friends get roped in. One of these women introduced me to her sons ex while i was living in london ..the woman was a farmers wife the son had left farming....

So included farmers, including women farmers, but not exclusively and wide age ranges..the thing in common was we were women who got friendly and sociable.:) havenot really got that here. A friend and i went to lunch today, but at the pub, not in one of our homes, though we have been to each others for suppers.

Itismehonest

lostinrates wrote: »

Grr..lost a reply. So annoying.

In brief, yes farmers wives...and daughters, but also other people who lived about too. E.g as a student a few of us kived off ag. Coolege, sometimes quite far a way. Students and lecturers mixed socially, and the lecturers introduced us to villagers and farmers etc...just people. We had a regular tuesday night meet up there. I also was really good friends with some farmers adult kids who had school friends who stayed on in the area, so we used to do stuff for lunch/supper.

My village before this one was posher. Some farmers wives, mothers and daughters, weekender wives, london gone native, native stayed native....then schoolgate mothers meet and friends get roped in. One of these women introduced me to her sons ex while i was living in london ..the woman was a farmers wife the son had left farming....

So included farmers, including women farmers, but not exclusively and wide age ranges..the thing in common was we were women who got friendly and sociable.:) havenot really got that here. A friend and i went to lunch today, but at the pub, not in one of our homes, though we have been to each others for suppers.

Certainly different from here & where I grew up.
Both places are definitely more the sort where people gather at the pub or village hall & that's normally just in the evenings.

The local business people sometimes have dinner parties or wine-tastings but girls lunches I've not come across outside the larger populated places I've lived.

choille

Oh Rummer....... you do need a stove possibly? You've had too much of this.

LIR - It's so hard having moved & trying to get a social thing going without being in & out of each others - I haven't managed that here really & I do yearn for a better time of things like that, but there again I like solitude & .............

Oh well - hope it's free listing again this w/e.

Rummer

Gas CH and a new boiler to boot. We do have an electric fire but it makes very little difference and even then only in the living room. I am trying to convince myself that going up to bed is a good idea but it is scary cold and I just don't want to :eek:

Itismehonest

Rummer wrote: »

Gas CH and a new boiler to boot. We do have an electric fire but it makes very little difference and even then only in the living room. I am trying to convince myself that going up to bed is a good idea but it is scary cold and I just don't want to :eek:

No idea why it's dying?
I take it that the gas itself stops & it's not just something like the pilot getting blown out.
I guess they do still have pilot lights?
I'm absolutely useless as far as gas is concerned. Only had it in a couple of rented places when I was young so I'm well out of date with anything new.

Bed may be the warmest place once you snuggle in. :cool:

choille

I never really liked sleeping in a warm room = which is just as well eh? But at least in the van & the stove on it does get warm when its on.

Does your Ch have an electric pump? Neighbours have had massive trouble with that.

Davesnave

Choille Day was a bit late this year and posting a piccie of the postponed conflagration, even later, but here it is at last:



As you can see, it was an appropriate end for our Christmas tree and a pretty glorious day weather-wise. Now it looks like wind, wind, wind again, but nothing cold threatening here.

Having done the books, we find that in our first 20 months we made a loss, but not a bad one, considering that half of it was the cost of a newer van. Unfortunately, the polytunnel isn't something we can claim for, and nor is half of the fencing. Overall, we're pleased, which might seem odd, but we didn't expect to make any profit in the first few years.

Indeed, we doubt if there's ever going to be a significant profit, which is partly why we knocked the business on the head, officially at least. Making a loss can be useful for tax purposes, but we don't want to milk it. A smallholder can have at least 5 years of losses before HMRC has the ability to apply the label 'hobby farmer,' but of course they can investigate at any time.

Commiserations to those of you suffering heating problems. If a pump keeps failing it's likely that there's something odd about its mounting. Bob the Bodger decided to mount the pump on its side under the floor in our last house, so not only was it noisy, but the bearings wore out every 18 months or so. Once we'd relocated it to the proper place, there was no pump trouble in the following 15 years. Just a thought....;)

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Davesnave i am supprised you cant put the polytunnel down as a business expenditure, as this is a core hub for over wintering, starting young plants etc, which is key to any gardening business.

Just out of curio why cant it go down as a business purchase?

I have a fantastic accountant, pay him a set monthly amount, and i just plonk all my paper work in a cardboard box, and they sort out my vat, tax, i phone him up very week and he does my payslips, works out every month how much i owe HMRC for employer tax etc...well worth the money for me,

After years and years of not having any trouble with foxes, we had one around last night and it took out some chickens and ducks:mad:

We should have known something was up, as we do have some rats around the chicken run etc, but the last few weeks we havent seen any ( put it down to the run being a total bog at mo) but it could have been that the fox has been taking them out...

The problem is now the blinking FFFF'ing fox know they are there now, and will keep on coming back:mad: so the dog poo is now being put around the outside of the chicken fence again.

I do think this helps keep foxes away, we have been disposing of the poo somewhere else, so maybe this is why the fox has ventured back.

Just wondering, Where would we stand legally ( not morally) with popping the fox with an air gun ( or wouldnt the air gun be gowerfull enough) If we catch it in the chicken run again?